Checkmate
by lizzabet
Summary: For the challenges from other challenges on CCOAC! Reid plays chess with a kid who has kidnapped one of the agents and Reid has to reach out to the boy before it's too late.


**A/N** **This is for the challenge from other challanges on CCOAC! I got from the OC-challenge. **

**I was assigned Reid and Samuel Brown- a kid Reid plays chess with**

**I'm not used to writing Reid, but give it a chance. You Emily fans might like it or hate it;P**

** Oh, and it's a ONE-SHOT! Don't kill me when you're done:p**

**Enjoy!**

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Checkmate

**_"Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends"_**

**_-William Shakespears_**

He was sitting at his usual spot by the chess table like any other day. Reid was approaching him with rather small steps, unsure what to say to the 16 year old kid. The kid was young and he knew he would be able to reach out to him, but he was still nervous. His legs were shaking and he didn't know what to do with his hands.  
Finally, he decided for the hands to go into the pockets as he stopped in front of the table. He cleared his throat before speaking with the lightest voice he'd ever heard himself use.

"Hi."

The boy didn't answer, just kept looking down on the chess pieces.

"Can I join you?"

The boy looked up at him now with a smug look mixed with anger.

"I've been waiting for you. Sit." the boy said and Reid sat down on the chair opposite the teen.

"Black right?"

Reid nodded and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. Since white was the color to start the boy moved his pawn two steps and then looked at Reid, waiting for him to make his move. Reid followed the boy's move and took his pawn two steps.

"S-Samuel." Reid stuttered, making the younger boy look at him. "We should talk."

"Of course, we always talk. I can't see how this should be any different."

"You know what I mean."

Samuel sighed as he moved his knight to take out Reid's pawn.

"It's your fault, you know?" he said, adding more guilt to Reid than he was already feeling. He knew it was his fault. They had sat here, playing chess almost every day and Reid had told him all about her. He had led this kid to her and now she might've been dead.

"Where is she?" Reid tried, but he knew that it would have been too easy.

"Why do you even care? Why does anybody care? She's just some whore who ruins people's lives." he said and moved a rook angrily to take down one of Reid's knights. "She'll be dead soon anyways."

Reid swallowed yet another lump, this time to keep himself from crying. Had he really killed her? Had Reid killed her?

"What do you mean?" Reid asked, not sure if he wanted the kid to explain more.

"I mean that she's in a coffin a few feet under the ground. Do you know how long it takes for the oxygen to run out, till you lose consciousness and until the brain finally shuts down, Dr. Reid?" the kid asked and Reid nodded. "Of course you do. You're a genius."

They sat in silence for a while, Reid not knowing how to proceed and Samuel occupied with the game. He took down the bishop with his queen. The boy was winning.

"Why did you do it?" Reid asked although he already thought he knew the answer, but he needed to start here to get the kid to talk.

"They lied to me. All my life they've lied to me." the boy said as if it was an obvious thing while he contemplated his next move.

Reid glanced at his watch. They'd only found out that she was missing 70 minutes ago when she failed to come back from her one hour lunch, where on Wednesdays she always went to the dry cleaners around the corner of her apartment building which Reid had told the boy as an explanation to why he didn't spend his lunch break with anybody from his team. He had also explained during that, that Morgan and Garcia had gone to one of Morgan's properties to show Garcia something, Hotch and JJ had both gone home to see their kids and Rossi had a dinner date the Wednesday Reid had spent lunch with a kid, playing chess. Only the information about Emily's whereabouts every single Wednesday would work to his advantage. 70 minutes was a long time, but he would have to knock Emily out, put her in a coffin and bury her. The hole could already have been prepared; he had to assume that, which made the process faster. But Reid had known almost immediately that Samuel had something to do with it. Reid's eidetic memory had replayed every single conversation they'd had and he had soon discovered that the young boy had been very interested in their brunette colleague. Did Reid mention Jack or Henry, Samuel would ask about Emily's children. If he told him about Morgan and all his dates, Samuel would wonder if Emily was the same. Almost everything could turn into a topic regarding Emily Prentiss. How could he have been so stupid? Then the anonymous text he received saying 'You know where to find me, come alone' confirmed it all. It had gone 80 minutes when Samuel moved his rook to take down Reid's second knight. Yes, Reid knew how long it would take for the oxygen to run out. It all depended on how big the coffin was and in how much panic she would be. If she was in a normal 17 cubic feet's coffin and the volume of a body is 7 feet, then that would make 10 cubic feet of air left to breathe in. A human being takes about 12 breaths per minute and breathes in 0,5 liters per breath, which makes 360 liters per hour, doubling the amount if she panicked. The coffin would contain 289 liters and the air would run out in less than an hour. Then she would probably last 2-4 minutes without breath until she lost consciousness and then 5-15 minutes until her brain shut down. She would be dead in an hour from the point he buried her.

"They?" Reid finally said after snapping out of his own calculations.

"My fosterparents, she." he spat angrily meeting Reid's eyes. There was so much hate in them.

Reid knew he had lived with foster parents and he had figured out what he had against Emily during the replay of their conversation.

"What did you do to your foster parents?" Reid asked, realizing that he hadn't thought of the young boy to hurt them since he had been so focused on Emily.

"Sliced 'em up." Samuel said as if it was nothing.

"You know I will have to take you in?" Reid said.

"No, you won't. There's nothing on me. Every single document of my birth and adoption is deleted. I know my ways around computers. Besides, you'll never find her if you do."

Reid wanted to cry, but if he broke down now he wouldn't get a location on her. He would never get one anyways. The team didn't know where he was or about the guy responsible for their friend's disappearance. He knew he should have told them, but instead he said that he was going to question the dry cleaner and he was to do that alone.

"Will you tell me if I let you go?" Reid tried, his voice trembling.

The boy laughed before moving the next piece of chess forward. He noticed that the boy was also glancing at his watch. 90 minutes. Her time was about to run out.

"Do you know how much strength it took to move her body? Not as easy as you might think, but I managed." he said, ignoring Reid's question.

"Please tell me." Reid pleaded, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Begging and crying now, are we?" Samuel asked, amused. "You know, I came home last week and heard this message on the phone from social services or something. Wanted to talk about that 'thing' they had said about me. Do you wanna know what that thing was about, Dr. Reid?"

"Yes." Reid managed in a small voice.

"My foster parents wanted to find my birth mother to see if she wanted me back. Apparently I was a lot to handle and when my dad lost his job they decided it would be cheaper to get rid of me. Do you know how that feels?"

"You feel abandoned and neglected. Like nobody wants you in their life." Reid said quietly.

"They don't! My mom gave me away and then my new parents wanted to give me away too."

Reid looked down and couldn't help but to feel sorry for the boy. He himself had some abandonment issues so he recognized that awful feeling.

"I'm sorry." Reid said, making the kid look up at him, surprised.

"You are?"

"Yes, I am. I know that feeling."

Samuel nodded slowly while concentrating on taking out Reid's queen. Reid looked at his watch. 97 minutes. This movement didn't get unnoticed by Samuel, though.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock." Samuel teased. "How does it feel being this helpless? Knowing that your friend will die soon and not being able to do anything. You should probably make that call."

"What?"

"To the team and tell them that she's dead. They must be going crazy looking for her, but they have no idea about the... predicament she's in."

He glanced at his watch again before continuing.

"Now call them. She will be dead in five minutes. You should tell them she's gone so they can stop looking."

Reid looked at the younger boy contemplated who to call. He ruled out Garcia first, because Reid wouldn't be able to stay strong while hearing her cheerful voice. Hotch was their supervisor and should know about it, but Reid's guts didn't tell him to call Hotch first. Morgan, though, would want him to call. Emily and Morgan were partners and he had always had her back. They loved each other. So that's what he decided on. He looked through his phone after Morgan's number with shaky fingers and with just as a shaky hand moved it to his ear.

"Reid? How'd it go? Did you get anything?" Morgan asked, sounding really worried.

Reid tried to hold back a big sob that wanted to escape when he answered.

"Emily is dead." he said in a low voice. "She was buried alive and she's dead now."

"What are you talking about Reid?" Morgan almost yelled.

"He said he's buried her, but he won't tell me where. I'm sorry, Morgan, but we've lost her."

"Stop fooling around, Reid." Morgan said, angrily. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the park. You should come... I'm sorry."

"I swear to God, this is not funny!"

"No, it's not. I'm sorry." he said once again.

He kept apologizing. It was for the fact that Emily was gone, but also because it was his fault. He kept saying that he was sorry through his sobs that only got worse when hearing Morgan yelling at him and he knew that if he hadn't been here every single day Emily would have been alive. Reid couldn't talk anymore. Instead he just sat there, holding the phone to his ear and listening to Morgan's panicked voice. He watched as Samuel glanced at his watch again, a wide smile spreading on his face.

"And the bitch is gone." he said. "I think we're done talking now." He moved his rook two steps forward. "Check mate!" he said with a wink and then rose from his seat.

Reid watched as the 16 year old hung his rucksack over his shoulders and walked away. In his ear he could still hear Morgan's voice and he could hear him say that they were on their way, but it didn't matter anymore. Emily was dead anyway.

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Samuel smiled as he rode his bike to the old house down on Baker's street that had been abandoned for years, decades even. The one everyone referred to as the 'ghost house'. It took him about 10 minutes to ride his bike to the house and when he entered he ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He entered the first door to the left. A wide smile reached his face when he saw the brunette woman tied with her hands behind her back, feet together and duct tape over her mouth. The woman's eyes were filled with fear, an emotion he hadn't expected from her. Reid had always described her as a fearless woman who had great compartmentalizing skills, but she showed none of those traits now. He approached her and sat down on the bed leaving out a sigh.

"Hi, mom. Everything is settled now." He said and caressed Emily's cheek. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, alright? I was thinking Paris because I know you speak French and all." The boy lay down next to his mother so their faces met each other and kissed away two teardrops. "Don't cry, mother. Everything will be okay. It will just be you and me together, forever. But first we'll rest, you wouldn't believe the day I've had today."

**_"The ability to create and to control the tension of battle is perhaps the principal attainment of the great player."_**

**_-Savielly Tartakower_**

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**A/N I'm Sorry!**

**Please review and let me know what you think!**


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